of our souls and bodies possibly compels a man to ask for at the hands
of beauty, that my fantasy desires of him; but what my fantasy
demands, I do most earnestly desire to obtain from willing hands and
under seal of true affection. To clutch it forcibly were as far from
my desire as to do myself some mortal mischief.

[42] Lit. "of tyrant to achieve," a met. from the chase. Cf.
"Hunting," xii. 22.

Were he my enemy, to wrest some spoil from his unwilling hands would
be an exquisite pleasure, to my thinking. But of all sweet favours the
sweetest to my notion is the free-will offering of a man's beloved.
For instance, how sweet the responsive glance of love for love; how
sweet the questions and the answers;[43] and, most sweet of all, most
love-enkindling, the battles and the strifes of faithful lovers.[44]
But to enjoy[45] one's love perforce (he added) resembles more an act
of robbery, in my judgment, than love's pastime. And, indeed, the
robber derives some satisfaction from the spoils he wins and from the
pain he causes to the man he hates. But to seek pleasure in the pain
of one we love devoutly, to kiss and to be hated, to touch[46] and to
be loathed--can one conceive a state of things more odious or more
pitiful? For, it is a certainty, the ordinary person may accept at
once each service rendered by the object of his love as a sign and
token of kindliness inspired by affection, since he knows such
ministry is free from all compulsion. Whilst to the tyrant, the
confidence that he is loved is quite foreclosed. On the contrary,[47]
we know for certain that service rendered through terror will
stimulate as far as possible the ministrations of affection. And it is
a fact, that plots and conspiracies against despotic rulers are
oftenest hatched by those who most of all pretend to love them.[48]